Destiny: A Game of Death
by Blackhound18
Summary: Destiny with the SAO treatment. What if the Destiny community became trapped in their favorite pass time and the only escape was to awake the Traveler? Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi
1. Act I: Chpt 1 - Beginnings

AUTHORS NOTE: A test chapter from me and a buddy of mine. It is based on the entire lore of Destiny (what is in game and outside of game), so if you are confused then read your grimoire cards. For you lore-whores out there, some events are going to be shifted around simply for story purposes. If this gets good feedback it will continue. Enjoy Guardians

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" _The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." - H.P. Lovecraft_

Kahmille: Human Titan - Sunbreaker

A lone Titan sat calmly in the barren wastes of the City perimeter awaiting a message from his fireteam member. He flicked his wrist in the air and brought up his UI to inspect his equipment. In the top left corner of the translucent interface his username was on display… "Kahmille". _Why in the world did I make that my freaking character name,_ he thought still cringing every day he saw it..

 _How long have we been in here_ , he had long lost count of the days he had spent in the wide and expansive world of Destiny. He could still remember the days he spent with his loved ones prior to the release of Destiny; He can still recall the excitement and 'the hype train' in the weeks leading up to the release, and the conversations he held with his friends about what would await them upon the release of the game. He remembers buying himself and his girlfriend the NerveGear so they could play together just as vividly as he remembered her apprehension on playing a 'stupid game', but he managed to convince her to buy into the experience by telling her, you always did want to spend more time together. He began to recall that first day, back when this was all 'just a game', when Guardians believed themselves invincible and struck out against the Darkness as they ventured out into the world.

He vividly remembers the panic that ensued when no one could 'LOGOUT' of the game. The weeks of frantic search and investigation that ensued as the community attempted to discover a way to free themselves. Unable to handle the pressure of being trapped with no forseeable way out some wandered out into the darkness and were never heard of again, others locked themselves in hotel rooms believing that this was all just a nightmare and they would wake up. Then, the first contact made with the outside world came 15 days into the ordeal. It was a system message from a man called DeeJ, a name that would be synonymous to both hope and ruin.

SYSTEM ALERT: CRITICAL INFORMATION TO FOLLOW

Hello Guardians, my name is DeeJ, the community manager for Bungie

It has come to our attention that the AI in charge of content generation has gone rogue

To prolong it's survival, the AI has placed your collective minds in a state of dilation.

You all are experiencing roughly 6 minutes of game time for every second that passes IRL,that means for every day out in the real world one year will pass for you guardians.

We have concluded that it is using you all as leverage to ensure its survival at the end of Destiny's cycle.

It has, however, given us this guidance. Awaken the Traveler, and you will earn your freedom

This world was designed to respond to the players. We created the framework for this world, but only you Guardians can discover what must be done to escape

There are several things you must know about the game moving forward.

There is no inherent limit to how strong your light can become.

Test yourself against other Guardians in the Crucible, or by combating the enemies of The City in the Wastes, and beyond. Find a way off Earth Guardians, we know that is the first step.

If you are to perish, you may be revived by another Guardian for as long as your light burns (or burns bright against the dark night)

When you are in areas covered in darkness your light will determine how long you have to be resurrected

If your light runs out then we can only assume your next death will be a true death, a permanent one.

We do not know what will happen to you if this occurs, so don't die Guardians.

We will update you as often as possible

A light chime took Kahmille out of his deep thought. A private message from a member of his Fireteam, a warlock named Nymeria, showed up on his HUD.

| Nymerio: Fallen crews are moving around The City. Saladin thinks some big ass event is about to start, maybe as big as the Battle of Six Fronts from the beta.

|Kahmille: You think The City and lowbies will be all right?

| Nymerio: Idk man, we should head back...t Just to be safe.

| Kahmille: Sounds good. I'm worried about A.

| Nymerio: I'm sure she will be fine, she's no lowbie

| Kahmille: Rather not risk it. Meet u at Skwatch?

| Nymerio: Yea

With a flick of his wrist Kahmille closed his UI and summoned his Sparrow and took off in the direction of the Cosmodrome. The drive back to the Cosmodrome would take a little over an hour, but if Fallen crews were moving towards the City it was safer to do that than risk flying his ship in. Once he was close enough the Vanguard could transmat him directly into The City. As he drove closer to The City he began to encounter teams of Fallen dressed in blue cloaks. These scattered groups were easy enough to eliminate, but they grew more numerous and organized the closer he came to the Cosmodrome.

"Hey Ghost, what Fallen house are these/Fallen/ Elinksi from," Kahmille said to his own Ghost. The little light materialized with the Verdant Shell equipped, it spun around with excitement and began to scan the downed Fallen.

"chnk Based on the cryptarchy records these are the colors of the House of Winter. chnk", his Ghost chimed in it's small metallic voice. Kahmille wordlessly dispersed his Ghost and began to send a message to Nymeria.

| Kahmille: Ran into some Fallen trash mobs. House Winter. Was this in beta?

| Nymerio: I have Devils over here. Pretty Organized. Maybe massing for a big attack. Usually don't see two Houses working together.

| Kahmille: Awko. Move more faster sloot

| Nymerio: You love me

"chnk Are we off to adventure? chnk", Ghost asked.  
"I will be adventuring yes. You are gonna stay quiet unless I need something you dumb AI," Kahmille barked.  
With a hint of sadness that Kahmille was certain was pre-programmed his Ghost sighed. _Whoever wrote the scripts for these Ghost sure tried to make these things likeable,_ Kahmille mused. He refused to get emotionally invested in this world. He would fight and kill and burn all that stood between him and his escape from this hell. As his rage built the fire in his chest responded to his rage. His power, the power of the Sunbreaker, responded to his fury at his condition.

Most Titans had been lucky enough to be Strikers, whose power was drawn from the easy to control Arc-light. Strikers were a fount of unstoppable force, tearing through enemies with destructive energy and awe inspiring power. The light of the Striker seems to grow based on progress and movement. The more the Striker fights the stronger he becomes. By a lesser margin a number of Titans were drawn to the void as Defenders. If there was ever a question of what would win, an unstoppable force or an immovable object then the unwavering Ward of Dawn of a Defender will answer that question in favor of immovable objects. Trained in protection and being a defensive bastion against the enemies of The City. The Void-light of the Defender grows stronger as the Titan takes punishment. The more damage he takes the stronger his light will become. And then there are the Sunbreakers, a minority of the many Titan orders. The light of the Sunbreaker is that of divine fury, a rage against the Darkness itself. The Light of a Sunbreaker grows as one's enemies burn. But the fires of the sun are no easy task to control, many Sunbreakers find it difficult to control the flames within and suffer the consequences. The Sunbreakers of The City have the Hammer of Sol, but many are reluctant to give in to their innate fury to use their power. The Hammer is indiscriminate, burning friend and foe alike, it is for that reason that most Sunbreakers spend their time in the Wastes where their power can harm no one.

Kahmille lamented his situation for a time before he decided his next course of action.

Nymerio: Awoken Warlock - Voidwalker

Nymerio was sitting cross legged atop a hill out in the wastes looking at his surroundings. Everything looked, felt, and smelled so real it was hard to believe that it was all just a digital composition made from some crazed rogue AI. The grass swayed in the wind, metal debris of the golden age planes was rusting and would actually cut you if one was stupid or too curious, and the air smelled clean, like 0 pollution clean. Nymerio stood up and checked the time 10 minutes had passed so the spinmetal should have respawned by now. He put his hands together in front of him and spread them apart to open up the UI. He only needed 5 more spinmetal for his quota for _Dead Orbit_ today. After collecting the shiny spinmetal he contacted Kahmille and relayed Saladin's worries. After agreeing to meet in the Cosmodrone he summoned his sparrow and sped away to the rendezvous point.

After about 20 minutes Nymerio noticed a fallen patrol of 3 vandals and a dreg. He slowed down, hopped off the sparrow and crouch walked over behind a rock nearby to get the surprise on the fallen. The 3 vandals were in a circle crouched down barking at each other and waving their top 2 hands around while the bottom 2 were pointed at some kind of drawing they had made in the ground, perhaps a map or something maybe they were lost, Saladin did mention Fallen crews in the area.

Nymerio thought to himself for a moment and then pulled his ghost from his backpack. His ghost was wearing the Frontier Shell, a boon rewarded for all involved in the beta test, but his was special there was a piece of his ghost missing, a side spike, due to one of his first experiments about whether or not ghost felt pain.

Nymerio: Ghost begin audio and visuals for research experiment 37 Title "Vandals

and Sparrows

: chnkGreat… another one? Beginning audio and visual recording for research experiment 37*sigh*chnk

Nymerio: Don't worry Ghostie you're just watching this time.

Nymerio pulled up his UI and switched to the skip grenades of the Voidwalkers. Then he summoned his sparrow. He had a smile on his face as he hopped on and pulled out from around the rock he was hiding behind. By now a Fallen Captain had joined them. _Well this should be interesting he thought to himself._

The Fallen were maybe 15 meters away so Nymerio had to the necessary speed quickly. He gunned it right into the Vandal with his back turned to him and them slammed the brake as he let go of the acceleration and turned the sparrow hard knocking over the other 2 vandals and frying the dreg with the exhaust flames. Quickly he leaped up and glided up above the sparrow. By now the Fallen captain had been smart enough to retreat a bit and the 2 vandals that stumbled had regained their footing and noticed the guardian in the air above them. It was then that Nymerio threw his grenade at the sparrow, still pinning one vandal to the ground. The void energycollided with the sparrow and sent a few dozen small explosive void cubes to the surrounding area causing the two standing vandals to evaporate and the sparrow to explode, which killed the pinned vandal as well.

Nymerio touched down and asked his ghost "did you get all that"

"chnk yes, yes i did chnk" his Ghost replied sounding amused.

For a second the Captain just stood there with a surprised and aghast look on his face before it turned into snarling anger. Nymerio had come across hundreds of Fallen Captains by now, so he knew what to do. He pulled out his arc fusion rifle and blast him right in the chest, then switch to his new auto rifle to finish him off. As he was making his way to the Cosmodrone he found several other Fallen patrols, strangely organized and seemed to be amassing in great number. He zoomed past several of them, it was more important to get to the City he needed to warn Regina.

All warlocks are naturally inquisitive and curious. So their light strengthens through research, scientific discovery, and learning about lore from ages past. The majority of Warlocks ended up with the Sunsinger class. Their power is drawn from the stars, the beacons of light in the solar systems. The next class of warlocks are the Stormcallers. These warlock act as a conduit of the powerful arc energy flowing through their entire being. Only letting the energy explode to decimate their enemies. These warlocks strengthen their light by taking on greater amounts of arc energy into their bodies and harnessing it, which has resulted in a few unlucky deaths early on. The last class is the least popular, the Voidwalkers, those who will the dark light as a force of tremendous energy. These warlocks strengthen their light by studying the dark, learning its secrets, understanding its power, and making it their own. Since they do this Voidwalkers are known for eccentric behavior. Allies of Voidwalkers call them special at best and mad at worst.

Nymerio ordered his Ghost to open his messages and after a 'friendly' exchanged with his quick tempered ally Khamiile the warlock's inquisitive nature began to pay off. The culminating event of the Beta test had been a **World-Changing Event** called the _Battle of Six Fronts_. These events differed from the public events that occurred in the wastes. World-changing events was the game's response to player activity. It would pit that entire community against an opposing force that required an incredible amount of communication and grit to overcome. During the Beta the beta-testers had to organize a defense against six fronts of attack. The Fallen House of Kings had managed to sneak into positions surrounding the city and attacked en-masse. The pre-launch Clan of " _The Iron Lords"_ were the deciding factor in this battle. Nymerio could easily remember the fluid movements of Felwinter, as he danced between Captains and tore them asunder with his arc covered blade. The fury of Radeghast as he screamed defiance in the wind against the wave of Fallen assaulting the City. The unshaken resolve of Timur, as he rallied the survivors to hold the lines against a horde of King Walkers. The actions of these players are legendary in the community, but Nymerio wondered if the same kind of action would be seen, and needed, in the upcoming battle.

Nymerio began to tap his foot as he started to type several messages to various players of renown within the City. "Ghost, is my ship still cloaked in orbit?", Nymerio asked asked his as he began to run through various options in his head.

"chnkYes it is. I would assume you wish to scan the area for Fallen " Ghost replied.

"How'd you know?" Nymerio asked his Ghost, puzzled that the AI predicted his next statement.

"chnk I am designed to learn the behavior of my Guardian you know. And you are doing the foot tapping thing, that always means it is time to go gather intel"chnk Ghost said rather smug.

"That is amazing. What I would do to understand your programming…," He mused with intrigue.

"chnk I would prefer to not be a subject of anymore of your 'experiments'. I like being FULLY functional chnk," His Ghost said.

With a shrug Nymerio decided to end the discussion. He could investigate the Ghost's full potential later, for now he needed to get a good estimate of the Fallen's battle strength. In his UI the orbital scan from his ship began to come in. Hundreds of thousand of Fallen traveled through the ruined highways leading up to the City. Since this game of death began, the Artisan players, with the help of the volunteering Titans, had erected massive walls and battlements to protect the City. A system of patrols manned the Wall, ensuring all combat able Guardians had a shift in protecting the only safe place for players. With the technology salvaged in the Wastes, The City would pick up the movement of the Fallen infantry in minutes… unless they were doing the same thing the Kings had done previously. Unfortunately the players still hadn't figured out how the Fallen were able to approach without detection.

Nymerio began to rapidly send a message to all key leaders of the City, whether they were in the wall or out everyone of importance needed to know this. He identified the area that the Fallen were approaching and sent the message:

|Nymerio: 3 Fallen Houses incoming towards Twilight Gap! Prepare to defend the City

He pressed send and summoned his Sparrow, he needed to rendezvous with Kahmille. His thoughts drifted towards Regina, and could only hope that she would stay safe.

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END NOTE: IF you're from Reddit, just leave your thoughts on that thread. If you having critiques please let me know I am always looking to improve my writing and storytelling. Thank you for reading! See you later Guardians.


	2. Act I: Chpt 2 - To Battle

Regina: Awoken Hunter - Gunslinger

Regina strided confidently to the bounty board, a list of contracts fulfilled that would net her a decent amount of experience. Her soon-to-be-husband-if-even-if-he-doesn't-know-it-yet Nymerio assured her that this was the easiest and safest way for her to gain strength in this game. For the longest time she had locked herself in her refusing to leave the City. The concept of permanent death made her unable to leave. Even with the ability to be revived by her Ghost, she refused to risk death and left the adventuring to Guardians such as her boyfriend. She wasn't a gamer, the last game she played was Rock Band 4 back in 2015, the concept of a VRFPMMOS (Virtual Reality First Person Massively Multiplayer Online Shooter) was completely foreign to her. But Nymerio managed to convince her to play the game, promising to teach her everything he knew. Upon the realization that they had been trapped, it took a large amount of convincing from both Nymerio and their real-world friend Kahmille to get her out in the world. They told her that there was plenty of work for Guardians that did not want to risk death by patrolling the wastes. Important jobs such as weaponsmithing, armorsmithing, shipbuilding, cryptarchy, and city-governance were just as important for the survival of everyone within the City.

Reluctantly Regina decided to become an armorsmith, her love of clothes and design seemed to fit well with the skills needed for a good armorsmith. So as she turned in bounties for experience she entertained several thoughts of new armor designs in her head. Maybe she could craft her boyfriend a new chest piece instead of that god awful hodgepodge of equipment he currently wore. _Good stats boots my ass, he isn't going to look like Toland_ , she thought to herself.

She ran into the hard plasteel plating of a Titan's armor, as she quickly spun to see who it was the unique white and gold pattern of Saladin's custom armor calmed her before she gave him a piece of her mind.

"Hello Regina," Saladin said with a respectful tone, "I was monitoring my messages and didn't see you, my bad."

"It's okay Sal! I was just lost in thought," she said, trying to defuse the potentially awkward encounter.

"Yeah.. uh.. so have you heard from Nym today?," He asked, keeping the conversation civil.

"Not yet, you know how he gets," she chuckled, "He is probably doing some research out in the waste that may or may not leave him wounded."

"One can only hope…," Saladin replied, attempting to leave his contempt for the warlock hidden.

"You still mad at him for the whole 'test shotgun' ordeal…" Regina asked.

"Oh no, it is not his fault that my favorite weapon exploded while I was in a fight with a Fallen Baron… not his fault… at… all," Saladin said as his calm demeanor began to give out to his frustration at the warlock.

Before the conversation could go any further Regina gave a quick chuckle and said goodbye while walking away. In addition to being a high-level warlock, her boyfriend was also a well known cryptarch and weaponsmith. Using his knowledge gained from decoding engrams and his… obsession with weaponry he had salvaged the turbo-lasers used for the Cities defence from downed colony ships from the wastes. However he was equally as well known for the… volatile nature of some of his more experimental weapon systems. One of his most well known experiments was with a shotgun he assured Saladin would "regenerate ammunition using the ambient glimmer in the atmosphere". Suffice to say it did not work.

Regina continued her march towards the bounty board, passing a few familiar faces and exchanging friendly waves and smiles with those she recognized. She arrived at the bounty board and turned in the plethora of bounties, and she felt the experience points increase her power. The little flame in her chest, the fire associated with a Gunslinger, grew noticeably which meant that she probably earned a few new skills. She was rather lucky in the subclass she was gifted with. The Gunslinger lived for the perfect shot, excelling at killing an enemy long before they became close enough to be a threat. The light of the Gunslinger grew as one's confidence grew. The more sure of oneself a Gunslinger became the more focused and precise the fires that burned within were able to be. This is in contrast to the Bladedancers, a more reckless group of hunters. Not always the best team players but none can doubt the effectiveness of a good Bladedancer. Equal part assassin and masters of bladework, a Bladedancer sought to get up close and personal with their opponent. Their ability to be invisible and stay that way leant well to their fighting style. A Bladedancer's light responded to the wild and unpredictable nature of arc-light. By striking out with boldness from the shadows a Bladedancer is able to hone their blade and strengthen their light. If the Bladedancer is the lone wolf then a Nightstalker is the pack hunter. Typically found in hunting groups, foraging for materials and equipment with large parties, Nighstalkers work well in support of a team. They strike from the shadows, using a bow constructed from the void to strike enemies and hold them down. As much as Nightstalkers work well with teams, the nature of the void leave them mysterious and aloof to most other Guardians that work with them. The light of a Nightsalker strengthens through being far-seeing, looking past the immediate and seeing what is critical. This allows the Nightstalker to turn the void into a tool for precise and accurate power when needed.

Not interested in looking through her skill menu, she made her way to the artisan sector in preparation to test her new armor designs. It did not take long for her to arrive at her artisan table, but from a distance she could see one of her regular customers waiting for her.

"*sigh* Hello Hideo, what do you want today. And if you ask one more time to join your stupid cult I will gut you," Regina said with a hint of venom.

Hideo, a human warlock that followed the path of the Sunsinger chuckled "No, not today, I was just hoping to put in a special order for some new armor."

"There are literally HUNDREDS of armorsmiths Hideo, why do you always come to me," She asked while she removed her hunter's cloak and equipped her artisan's shroud.

"Well… your armor always has this nice style to it they I enjoy," Hideo admitted, "not many armorsmiths can roll decent gear and make it look good to."

Regina pointed her smithing tool towards the brim of Hideo's nose, "Don't get all flirty with me buddy, everyone female in this sector knows you're a womanizer."

Hideo shrugged, as if admitting she was right. Before he could speak any more Hideo eyes seemed to drift towards his UI. Hideo, or as he liked to call himself 'Executor Hideo' was a high ranking member of the Guild _New Monarchy_. These players believed in strengthening the area around the City, and ensuring peaceful and fair governance. Despite being a complete sleez at times Regina had to admit that Hideo was a good guy at heart. Even though he and her boyfriend Nymerio had philosophical disagreements on certain things, she had a lot of respect for the guy. Along with being a damned good Guardian who spent countless hours keeping his skills sharp in the Crucible, he worked well with the other Factions to maintain peace in the City. He always maintained a fairly light attitude and friendly demeanor, but based on his facial expressions something was wrong.

With well practiced flicks of his wrist Hideo changed from the casual garb of a City leader to the combat armor of a Guardian prepared to fight.

"Get somewhere safe Regina, Nymerio would flay me alive if something were to happen to you. And I would not want to be on that madman's bad side," He said to her before running off towards the western battlements of Twilight Gap. Before she could ask any questions a system alert popped into her face:

 **EVENT BEGIN: BATTLE OF TWILIGHT GAP**

Regina's heart began to race. She had never been in a large scale event before, and the few she has been in was always with Nymerio and Kahmille. But she was in the City… there was no way she could be hurt within the safe zone that was inside the City's walls. Before her mind was allowed to wander any further the distinctive sound of dozens of Fallen Ketch dropping out of warp dangerously close to the city. Before the defenders of the wall could respond hundreds of cannons exploded in thunderous fury as the Fallen released their firepower at the wall. The firepower was focused on the single western battlement of Twilight Gap, and she could only imagine the devastation that occurred in that initial volley. From within the Ketchs hundreds of Skiffs deployed and continued the surprise assault, pressing their advance through the opening created by the initial volley. Several Skiffs were detonated by hyper-dense explosions of void energy, no doubt the few Voidwalkers who happened to be ready unleashing their fury upon their attackers.

A message came into her UI, from Ana Bray the current Hunter Vanguard:

| Ana: If you are in the city and you have a weapon start fighting! This is our home people, time to fight for it

Despite her abject fear of permadeath Regina quickly equipped her armor. She gripped her cloak and draped it over her head and conducted a functions check on her hand cannon and sniper rifle. It was time for her to have an adventure.

She sprinted through the crowd, with speed she didn't know she possessed towards a position where she could snipe enemies. She was no good at fighting up close, but from her time hunting enemies in the waste she had become a truly dangerous sniper. One of the larger towers that belonged to some obscure conspiracy cult seemed easy enough to scale. She leapt through a window and sprinted up the stairwell that she would hope led to the rooftop. In minutes she was at her destination, a vantage point that gave her a great view of all the combat in the area. She lay on her stomach and summoned her Ghost to assist her with finding targets.

"Hey Little, can you please tell me what in the world is going on," Regina asked while looking down her scope, trying to find a decent target to attack.

"chnk It seems that several fallen houses are working together to attack the citychnk," Little replied, "I am tracking several different feeds from friendly forces trying to make sense of it all."

"So… what can I do to help?" Regina asked, without breaking her focus on the Fallen infantry approaching the second wall in the western battlements.

"Fallen Captains will disorganize the troop movements chnk, making things easier for the Titans to create a decent defensechnk," Little said.

"Since when did you know anything about combat Little," Regina asked.

"chnk Since forever. YOU never asked," Little replied with a hint of snarkiness.

Regina returned her full focus to the battle, choosing a Devil Baron that was shouting orders to Vandals and Dregs atop a Walker. A single shot from her sniper rifle tore straight through his shields and pierced the Baron's gullet, silencing him as quickly as Regina had taken aim. The Baron fell of the walker and crushed an unlucky dreg. With the roar of combat the Vandals and Dregs could not identify the killer of their leader. Regina quickly shifted her sights to another Captain, this one was rushing a fallen warlock. A quick shot landed straight in the Captain's chest, staggering him long enough for the warlock to unload a shotgun blast to his head. Regina decided to fire rounds at a House of Kings Baron that was fighting two Titans at once. She fired a round into his flank, but did not break his strong shields. The Baron ducked under a punch from a Titan and clubbed the second one into a wall. His eyes then looked towards the spot that Regina was currently at. He shouted commands to the Vandals to his rear and before she knew it a Walker began to shift it's turret towards her.

From an adjacent building the unique white and gold armor of Saladin was seen sprinting through a group of Vandals. He looked at the Walker and then towards Regina's position, without a second thought Saladin leapt into the air and charged his fist with arc energy. From high in the air Saladin struck down like divine lighting, piercing the King's Walker with a single attack. From within the fires Saladin rose in a challenging stance and identified the King Baron for death. The Baron rose its fist in rage and charged Saladin with all of its blades ready to tear Saladin limb from limb. Saladin ran at the charging Baron and slid between the Fallen's legs, grabbing one of its feet and throwing it against a building. The Baron crashed into a wall, leaving its bodyprint in it, and Saladin used this opportunity to unleash havoc with his auto-rifle. The experience Baron blinked away once it realized the predicament it was in, appearing to the flank of Saladin. The Baron swiped at the veteran Titan, but with a Hunter's grace he ducked under the attack and switched to his shotgun. Saladin stood with his back towards the Baron and released a backwards shot that executed the King's Baron. The Guardians stood behind the Titan, and the entire Fallen horde stood to his front. Thunderous artillery roared around Saladin as he assessed the situation. From behind his helmet no one could see his face, but no one truly needed to.

No speech was given, no battlecry was uttered. Saladin simply charged into the Fallen, and continued his onslaught of mayhem and destruction. He was a conduit of destructive arc energy that decimated any Fallen foolish enough to get in his way. Saladin's charge was the rallying call for all Guardians. Defenders conjured bubbles of void energy offered safety for the injured while Voidwalkers ripped artillery of through the skies to break the Fallen advance. Bladedancers ducked and weaved through the Fallen while Sunsingers burned with radiance, striking fear in the Fallen. But all of this did not seem to break the charge of the Fallen army. More and more reinforcements poured through Twilight Gap by the minute, and despite the valiant effort by the City's defenders the Guardians were slowly being pushed back. This was seen by Regina in her perch atop the building where she continued to snipe the Fallen. She was so focused on eliminating targets she barely noticed the Fallen Skiff drop a raiding party consisting of a Captain, 2 Vandals, 4 Dregs and 2 Shanks onto her position.

"chnk I think they are here for you chnk," Little said to Regina.

"Oh well isn't that just wonderful," Regina said as she switched to her hand-cannon.

She turned and fired off multiple rounds into the group of Fallen as she sprinted to her right. The Fallen scattered, only a dreg and two shanks were downed in this volley. The Captain began to fire the slow-seeking rounds of its Shock rifle as the Vandals pulled out their shock blades and charged her. Regina reloaded her weapon with enough time to down an additional dreg and shank. The words of Nymierio rang in her head, _focus on the weak adds first, so you can give yourself time to work on the harder mobs_. Before she could keep firing the first Vandal lept at her almost cleaving her head in two but barely missing the huntresses head. She gripped her knife and slit the throat of the Vandal before throwing her knife at the last dreg. The second Vandal swiped at her, being a little more conservative than his brethren. Regina took a small leap backwards giving her the space to fire off the last few rounds in her hand-cannon, killing the Vandal. The Captain stared at Regina, seemingly deep in thought. The words of Nymerio once again rang in her head, ' _Don't let the enemies fool you. They are slaves to a simple set of behavior protocols, they cannot truly think.'_ Despite those words she felt as if the Captain was studying her, learning from her movements. She reloaded her weapon and prepared to fire when the Captain blinked right in her face and grabber her hand with one of its four limbs. With its upper left arm it grabbed Regina by the throat and lifted her high in the air. She struggled and kicked to free herself to no avail. The small eyes of the Fallen Captain examined her as she fought to free herself.

The Captain's left set of eyes turned to address a sound behind it before it dropped Regina and blinked to the right. The void bow of a Nightstalker flew right by Regina's head. In the titular garb of Dead Orbit stood one of the higher ranking members of Nymerio's Guild, Jalaal stood with a void-bow in hand.

"You okay Regina," Jalaal asked, maintaining his eye contact with the Captain. As the Captain and Jalaal circled two other Guardian ran into the fray. Hideo was panting with exhaustion, having just arrived at the rooftop with Jalaal and right behind him Laksmi arrived in the armor of a Titan, and emblazoned with her 'Future-War Cults' emblem. Despite being in separate factions all three of them stood together staring at the Captain.

"Why are you three here?", Regina asked out of curiosity.

"Your boyfriend… persuaded me to come. He promised to make a weapon for our foundries if we found you and kept you safe my dear", Lakshmi said with contempt as she readied a pulse rifle.

"You are _affiliated_ with one of our most notorious members. Of course I would come," Jalaal said as he steadied a scout rifle.

"He threatened me," Hideo said rather matter of factly, charging solar energy in his palm.

The lone Captain examined the Guardians that stood before him. He roared at the Guardians, as if he were challenging them. It was then that a name appeared above his health bar, Randall, Devil's Contendent.

The trio of Guardians charge at Randall, Hideo leading off with a fusion grenade that sticks to the Captain. Lakshmi engages next, firing several pulse rifle burst at the Captain as it charges forward. The grenade detonates but doesn't seem to slow Randall down in the slightest as he closes ground with Laskmi as she tries to reload. Before Randall can club Lakshmi, Jalaal throws a smoke bomb between the Titan and the charging Captain, obscuring Lakshmi from view allowing Jalaal to tackle her out of the way. Hideo switches to a fusion rifle, and charges a shot to down Randall's shields. The Captain blinks away before Hideo's shots land, giving the Captain space to attack again. Lakshmi begins to fire once again, trying to prevent the Fallen ultra from blinking away. The three Guardians fought the Ultra for what seemed like an eternity before Regina realized that she could fight as well. She picked herself up and leapt into the foray, feeling the flames in her chest burned with eagerness, ready to be summoned at a moment's notice.

"SLOW HIM DOWN! DON'T LET HIM MOVE," She shouted to her three allies. The three Guardians nodded wordlessly and moved in separate directions. Hideo let himself burn with Solar energy, his power uplifting the Guardians in the vicinity. Lakshmi let her arc energy flow through her fist and shoulder charged Randall before unleashing the power of storm in a thunderous blow. Jalaal tossed a voidwall grenade behind Randall as it tried to retreat giving Regina the opening she needed. She summoned the power of the sun, focusing it into her hand-cannon. She focused on her target and unleashed a round fired from her golden gun. The first shot took down the Captain's shields, the second took down his health. The third would kill with a headshot, but before she fired again Randall leaned to the side and her solar round flew past the Ultras head. Before the Ultra could charge again a Fallen Skiff flew to the building and fired rounds at the four Guardians, dispersing them enough for the Fallen Captain to retreat.

As the Captain retreated and the Guardian's stood Regina could swear she could see something in that Captain's eyes. She felt respect coming from the creature, but that was impossible considering it was just a named enemy.

"The heck was that," Jalaal said as the Skiff flew off towards the Fallen rear.

"A problem that must be addressed after we pushed these Fallen out of our City," Hideo replied, "You coming Regina? There are plenty of enemies to destroy."

Regina shook herself from her thoughts and turned towards Hideo, "Let us get these Fallen out of our City". The four guardians lept off the building and into the raging combat of the City streets. It was time for Regina to fight for the only place she could call home.


	3. Act I: Chpt 3 - Wastelanders

**AUTHORS NOTE: I do not own Destiny or SAO, this is a FanFic and bla bla bla.**

Kahmille: Human Titan - Sunbreaker

Kahmille stood with a group of Guardians that had managed to mass together in some semblance of a formation. A whole group of players that made their names in the Wastes stood in a group as the Titan Shaxx stood on a large airplane speaking to the group. Personally Kahmille did not care much for Shaxx. He was too much of a larper for his taste, but he was a damned strong one so there was that. As far as he could gather, Kahmille believed Shaxx to be a college student with an obsession over military doctrine and training. He carried himself like an officer, giving out official orders whenever it came time to conduct a mission. As annoying as the large orders process was, Kahmille had to admit that it was a very effective because everyone would understand the mission objectives. In Kahmille's inbox was the Operation Order (OPORD) associated with the mission at hand. The order of movement of this attack was similar to the Blitzkrieg tactics of the German armies armored cavalry in World War II. The lighter faster first echelon, led by Cayde-6, would hit first, creating a hole for the second echelon to move through. This second wave, led by Kahmille himself, would punch through the opening created by Cayde's force. This second wave's action would then work to achieve both a tactical and strategic objective. The immediate tactical objective would be distracting the Fallen forces, providing covering fire for Cayde's group along with maintaining the Fallens ire to prevent the from pursuing the third group of Wastelanders. The overall strategic objective of this was to cause a shift in the deployment of Fallen forces to address this threat. The third group, led by Shaxx, would go to the cosmodrome and activate hundreds of Warframes, dumb AI's that would help bolster the number of fighters on the Guardian's side. Once Shaxx activated the Warframes, he would move to retake the Skywatch to get in communication with Guardians defending the city and re-deploy from there.

All of these Guardians were what the general populace considered Wastelanders. A group of players that are dedicated to getting stronger and taking on the toughest challenges this world has to offer. Some were larpers, choosing to play into the lore of the world and 'be' their characters. Others were like Kahmille, and took this all as one big game that just needed to be beaten. While there were a few that fluttered somewhere in the middle of those extremes. Regardless of an individual's mindset all Wastelanders felt a bit of kinship towards one another, even though none would readily admit it.

Shaxx spoke to the group of Guardians in a booming voice, "Does everyone understand the situation," he asked. With a motley of responses that generally meant 'yes we get it' Shaxx summoned his Ghost, "Radar here will give all of your Ghost the waypoints just in case you blokes forget your objectives. Look to your respective section leaders and let's mount up!"

"Remember," Shaxx continued, "There a thousands of Warframes in the old Cosmodrome awaiting my activation codes. Once clear out the Fallen there, we can use those Warframes to launch a counterattack and save the City. Fight well Guardians. Eliminate all Targets!" Shaxx summoned his Sparrow and speed off towards the Cosmodrome.

To his left Nymerio summoned his Sparrow, one of the rarer S-32V models. Kahmille summoned his S-21 Cavalier and speed off as well. Hundreds of Guardians mounted their sparrows and charged forward, ripping through the ruined wastes towards their objective. As the movement started the Watelanders moved into their respective formations. Kahmille made eye contact with Cayde-6 as he sped off with the first wave of the Sparrows. As Cayde's groups made contact, Kahmille turned to his group prepare for combat. Cayde's Sparrows began to come into contact with the Fallen's flank, they unleashed ruin into their ranks. Gunshots rang out and tore threw the Fallen's light infantry, giving the rest of the flanking force the opening they needed to continue. According to Shaxx's plan the fastest Guardians would hit hard and fast, a jab so to speak. This would draw the attention of the Fallen on the flank. With luck this would draw the ire of the Fallen commanders on the field so they would divert some of their attention to address the incoming Sparrow calvary.

Then it was Kahmille's groups turn. His elements purpose was to fix the enemy in their current position, preventing freedom of maneuver and disrupting deployment of hostile forces against Shaxx as he continued towards the Warframes. According to Shaxx a _fix_ was a tactical mission where a unit prevents the enemy from moving from a specific point. Due to the nature of Guardian combat, the Wastelanders had the advantage of using their smaller numbers but relatively large amount of individual firepower to accomplish this. Kahmille bobbed and weaved through the Fallen, using his Sparrow to eliminate those that got in his way. He pulled a shotgun and fired off a few rounds at a few Vandals to cause some damage to the organization of the Fallen. As Kahmille drove over a large hill he could see the Fallen horde en masse assaulting the City. The entire Western battlement of Twilight Gap was filled with countless Fallen from various Houses. The Guardians of the City seemed to be fighting valiantly but there was no way to combat this many Fallen through mere attrition. Kahmille could see a Ketch launching aerial bombardment at the City's defenders in an effort to break them. Kahmille kept his head low as he drifted through the ranks of Fallen.

The cavalry tore through the exposed flank of the Fallen, leaving the enemies confused for a minute until they realized what was happening. The Fallens flank began to turn and address the issue, which was Kahmille's cue. Himself, along with around fifty other Guardians leapt off their sparrows and immersed themselves in combat. Splitting off into groups of three, the Guardians wrecked havoc against the Fallen. The Fallen Houses had been fighting City Guardians, strong in their own right but their power paled in comparison to the Guardians of the Wastelands. And it was moments like these that Kahmille lived for. Along with Nymerio, Kahmille charged with solar fury into the Fallen. He let his flames burn bright for all to see. Threw a thermite grenade down in front of him, ripping a path for himself and his ally to push threw. Nymerio did not waste the opportunity to leap into the air and unleash three orbs of void energy to help scatter the Fallen.

Nymerio unleashed a laughter filled with void madness as the Fallen exploded in terror. As he landed he drew an auto rifled that had a sinister, hungry looking blade attatched under the barrel. "It Looks like we are surrounded now my furious friend," Nymerio said as he loaded his unique blood red auto-rifle.

"I am about to go off, I am gonna burn all these motherfuckers," Kahmille growled.

"So you are actually going to go all out this time," Nymerio chuckled.

"Hell yes I am. PRAISE THE SUN BITCHES!"

With a roar of defiance Kahmille summoned his hammer of solar energy and threw it at the first enemy he saw. He charged into combat, allowing his rage to stoke the flames deep within his chest. The world around him burned with Solar light and divine rage. His fury could only sustain this power for so long however, so Kahmille jumped into a conglomerate of Fallen as his fury dissipated. The first Vandal didn't deserve to get punched into oblivion. Nor the second, or the 20th, however Kahmille's fist flew blindingly towards any Fallen dumb enough to rush him. A Captain roared, more than likely directing his troops to take a step back from the berserker they found themselves fighting, but Kahmille would not allow them a break. He leapt towards an unlucky dreg and gripped it's head with his palm and threw it to his side. A Vandal made an attempt to attack but the swipe was parried with a swift block before Kahmille broke the Vandals arm and kicked it into his friends. The Vandal exploded in arc energy due to the experienced Titan pulling the pin on one of it's grenades. The Captain roared in rage and charged Kahmille but was quickly silenced with a boot to the chest. Kahmille pinned the Captain to the ground a unleashed a buckshot to his skull, killing the Fallen leader. Vandals charged in rage but Kahmille used his lift to flip over the charging Vandals. He switched to his heavy machine gun and began to rip his enemies apart. The Fallen perished left and right, dying by the dozens as the heavy machine gun rounds tore threw them due to the armor-piercing mod equipped. The carnage of battle stoked the flames in his chest, feeding the Sunbreaker's battle fury. Each kill fed his flame, allowing for Khamille to call upon the power of the Hammer of Sol. Once again he summoned his hammer Khamille leapt into combat. The raging Titan continued crushing and cleaving and sundering his enemies into oblivion. He would continue in this manner for however long was necessary. Like most of the Wastelanders, Kahmille was dramtically over-powered for the enemies he faced. Still, there was a certain satisfaction in fighting such overwhelming odds.

But anger and rage can only empower a man for so long, and constantly using the Hammer quickly depletes the Titan's stamina and fatigue began to set in as the battle drew on. More and more Fallen drew closer to the Titan as his pace slowed, noticing his weakness and choosing to prey on it. No matter how much the Fallen pressed him Khamille refused to crumble under the pressure of combat. He had to keep fighting for the person he cared the most for. _We will get out of here Ayyanna, I swear it_.

Nymerio: Awoken Warlock - Voidwalker

Nymerio watched his friend relish in his battle rage unique to the Sunbreaking titans. Not to be outdone by him Nymerio notched the auto rifle to his shoulder and started downing the fallen with controled fire watching vandal and dreg heads pop off, and wondering what was coming out of their bodies. "GHOST Nymerio" yelled over the chaos "it's time for research experiment number 38, tell me do I have any kind of containers in my inventory?"

"chnk uhhh I think I remember seeing old pre-golden age glass jars that you picked up while spinmetal farming earlier today chnk"

"Perfect" he said as he pulled out a sidearm and shot the closet dreg twice, one in each knee, crippling it. As he walked over he also put a few rounds in the creature's arms, _can't be too careful during dangerous research_ he told himself. When he arrived at the dreg he pulled out the glass jar holding it and the lid in one hand and the side arm in the other. One final round right between the eyes silenced the dreg and released the white mist that had intrigued Nym, with a quick downward sweeping motion with the jar hand he managed to capture some of it and seal it before it escaped into the air. _hmmm_ he thought to himself _Toland and the other warlocks may want to research this mist better see if I can secure some more materials_. Noticing the guardian's distraction a vandal snuck up on Nym. He turned around only to see the sword inches from his neck stop, shake, and then drop as a Titan had shot then melee killed the vandal. Nym turned around to thank the guardian for saving him from the hassle of rezing, but before he could say anything the Titan, with an force barrier, threw a magnetic grenade at another vandal with a wire rifle on of a small nearby hill maybe 5 meters away. Then turned to Nym grabbed him by his arm and asked, "what the hell do you think you're doing guardian this is a war zone."

To which Nym nonchalantly replied, "uhh gathering research materials." He saw the magnetic grenade, _hmm defender titan_. "Can you pop a bubble"

"Why" the defender replied.

"You see those sunspots and those incinerating fallen over there? Yea, that's a friend of mine and if he gets more kills than me today I'll never hear the end of it. So if you could pop a bubble and buff me so I can go do something interesting to catch up to him, in kills."

The defender stared at Nym with what most have been a blank stare. Nym could not tell because of the helmet, but the defender only shook his head as he created a void barrier between them and the rest of the world. As the defender lifted away back into the chaos Nym heard the titan mumble "Crazy ass… voidwalkers"

Nym cracked his fingers, wrists, and neck at the same time as he said "All right let's get back to work." The blessing of light granted by the defender's bubble gave Nym an additional defensive aura. Using the added level of defense Nymerio charged headfirst into a horde of Fallen dregg and vandals. Being aided by the power of the void Nymerio enveloped his weapon with the void energy from his shields, enchanting the weapon with his power. _Time to check the results of research experiment number 27_ , Nym thought as he began to fire his weapon. Using short controlled burst he eliminated the Fallen, and with each kill his shields replenished.

Hundreds of Fallen lay dead as Nym continued his indiscriminate slaughter of his enemies. All the while he gleefully collected data as his weapon fed on the ether of the Fallen. All the while he could hear the flames and screams from Kahmille's personal battle. Nym watched the mad Titan leapt high into the air covered in flames with a Fallen captain in his clutches. He threw the captain into the group of Fallen before leaping back into the chaos. Nym absolutely loved watching Kahmille when he was fighting at full power, while his friend was very humble about his own abilities Nym was confident in saying that Kahmille was amongst the strongest of Titan's, a legend along with Saladin and Saint-14. What Kahmille lacked was the urge to use his power, he feared his own strength instead of learning to truly control it. Even when Nym attempted to help Kahmiile study the sunbreaker his friend would always refuse. Such a pity.

"Shaxx is done with his mission. Time to fall back and prepare for Phase 2 , _chnk_ it is time to regroup with Kahmille," Nym's ghost said, shaking Nym from his contemplation.  
"What a shame, I think I was on to something with my prototype," Nym said with a bit of disappointment.

" _chnk_ I did manage to extrapolate some interesting data. _chnk_ It will be placed in Test 27 result file," Ghost said much to the pleasure of Nymerio. With that in mind Nym began to shoot his way out of the Fallen horde. With the chaos caused by the various wastelanders the City Guardians found it simple enough to escape the confused Fallen.

After getting a safe distance from the fallen Nymerio summoned his Sparrow and began to sift through the various engrams he collected during the most recent melee. It was not long until Kahmille arrived at Nym's location. "We're getting too far spread out we need to regroup and head towards the City, With this we've managed to provide some relief to the front lines." said Nymerio as he noticed Kahmille arriving.

"Yea, your right, they will soon begin to pin us down, if that happens we're done for." Kahmille agreed. Nym sent a quick message to Shaxx with some data provided by his ship with its infra-red scanners

"Alright, Shaxx agrees." Nym told Kahmille. A few moments later Shaxx relayed a message, fall back and defend yourselves because he will be sending a batallion of Warframes to support them. All Shaxx needed was some time to get into Skywatch and communicate with the Tower.

Summoning his most commanding voice Kahmille yelled "ALRIGHT GUARDIANS. This battle is far from over, and we are going to need everyone if we wanna make out of this shitshow alive. We need to fall back and create set up a defensive position to buy Shaxx time to contact the City, we will retrograde one kilometer and start setting up our defenses. I am sending out a waypoint so everyone knows where we will be going. We bound back! Cover your allies! Move with a purpose! Leave no Guardian behind"

Killing the closet few fallen, the guardians began to retreat, helping the injured by riding two to a sparrow when necessary, picking up the ghosts of their brethren that they could reach and making promises to retrieve the ghosts of those the guardians who laid to close to the pressing Fallen encirclement.

Breaking free of the fallen encirclement hadn't been hard, since sparrows focused on speed. This also meant that there were no guns attached to the vehicles, and this had caused several guardians to die as the explosive Shrapnel Launchers and homing Wire Rifles landed home upon the retreating Guardians. But the sight of their dying brothers and exploding sparrows was nothing compared to the devastation they witnessed upon arriving at the Last City on the Earth. It took time, but the mass of Guardians had created enough distance between themselves and the Fallen to start preparing their defensive positions. Kahmille split the Wastelanders into three large raid teams led by Kabr, Wei Ning, and Vell Tarlowe. The three Titans that Kahmille identified were given the task of setting up the defense. Kahmille turned to walk towards Nym, his gait was visibly different, sluggish and exhausted.

"Sup Nym, you doing alright. Shit got a bit hectic back there," kahmille said as he removed his helmet. Once he did Nymerio saw Kahmille's avatars face, which was rare for Guardians to see. He had skin the color of chocolate and one hazel eye that managed to shift shades in the setting sunlight. His left eye was alabaster, with one scar running through it. Kahmille was a stubborn guy, and while most Guardians chose to be revived with a completely intact body Kahmille forced his ghost to keep his scars of combat on him. To Kahmille they served as a reminder of his mistakes and faults.

"About as well as anyone else I guess, That retreat got interesting," Nym said, taking a seat beside his friend. He too removed his helmet and ran a finger through his cobalt blue hair. He removed his gloves to rub his hands, and marveled at the slight translucency of his saphire skin. No matter how often he saw it, he would always be amazed at how realistic things looked and felt in this world.

"Looks like Cayde and his crew are continuing to do hit and runs. He is trying to keep the Fallen from moving too fast, buy us some time to get set up." Kahmille said as he thumbed through his UI, communicating with his raid team leaders on the status of the defense. As he did so Kahmille continously tapped his feet, his nervous tick.

"Dude are YOU holding up alright," Nymerio asked the Titan. Kahmille stopped typing and grimaced in frustration.

"Just stressed man, like I know we have to do this to give us a chance to save the City… but I am worried about Ayya," Kahmille said, "She is in the city, and I have no idea what I would do if she died. She got this game because of me bro… what if…"

"I get it man, same thing here. But right now everyone here is counting on you. You may not see it but we all do," Nymerio said to his friend, "You are a natural leader, that's why Shaxx has you as a section leader. Now get your head in the game man."

"Thanks Nym, let me get off my butt and check on things." Kahmille stated as he stood up. Despite the kind words and inspirational rhetoric the only thought Nym had going on in his mind was _Gina please be alive, it's my fault you're here. I brought you into this mess, I have to protect you._ _I can't lose you._ In his worry he had completely forgotten about the _incentives_ he gave Jalal, Hideo, and Lakshimi to protect her. Nymerio stood up as well and put his helmet back on. The group of Guardians worked quickly to establish defensive positions. The area that Kahmille choose to place the group at was inside an old research station that stood three stories tall. The ruins of the building were repurposed to function as defensive barriers. Vell Tarlowe led the Guardians atop the bulding in their efforts to prepare anti-air defenses. With a little bit of ingenuity, Tarlowe had used some Rocket Launchers to create anti-air weapons. By wiring a bunch of rocket launchers perked out with tracking and proximity detonation, these weapons could automatically lock onto and fire at incoming Fallen Skiffs. Along with the anti-air weaponry, Tarlowe stockpiled as much heavy ammo synthesis to ensure that their would be plenty of ammunition. The second level, which was Kabr's responsibility, was emplacing heavy-machine guns in windows to focus on Fallen infantry. Despite being a little intense Kabr seemed capable enough, and his meticulousness would be an asset in the upcoming battle. Any rocket launchers not fit for use against aerial targets were placed on Kabr's floor, and they would be used against any Fallen armor. The bottom floor, which was Wei Ning's charge, was set up in an interesting defensive posture. Using their light, the Guardians charged barrier generators to create cover for the Wastelanders. In front of the defenses Wei had decided to emplace a minefield to slow the immediate advance. Behind the minefield was a set of barriers that would house a few fireteam of guardians. A premarked path was designated as their fallback route to the next line. Claymores were set up between the first set of barriers and second set, which would also break up the Fallen advance. The front rank of guardians would add their firepower to the next line and so on and so forth. There were four lines of this before the Guardians would arrive at the actual building. If the Fallen pushed up this far then all hope would be lost.

Despite all this Nymerio knew it would not be enough to stop the incoming attack. They were barely fifty Guardians against a Fallen horde. Their only real hope was for Shaxx's warframes to arrive in time, but the machines were moving on foot so Nymerio had no idea how long that would take. The distinct sound of Sparrows was heard far before Cayde-6 and his group arrived at the defensive base set up by Kahmille's team.

"We got Fallen incoming!" Cayde shouted as he leapt off his Sparrow and sprinted up to Kahmille. As Nymerio approached the two leaders he could tell Cayde was telling Kahmille something he did not want to hear.

"He is doing WHAT!" Kahmille shouted.

"Taking the fight straight to the Fallen, he wants to break the seige fast." Cayde-6 repeated.

"And what about us, he wants us all to DIE HERE!," Kahmille yelled, his temeperature rising with his anger.

"Oh calm down my friend…"  
"I'm NOT YOUR FRIEND!"

"Accquaintance… We're not gona die. We can't die. You know why? Because we are so _very_ pretty. We are just too damned pretty for God to let us die." Cayde said as he spun his custom hand-cannon.

"... You cannot be serious" Kahmille muttered.

"Sorry to interrupt," Nymerio interjected, "But our mutual friends are coming, and they do not seem very happy."

At the edge of the defensive line a Guardian shouted incoming as orbs of plasma rained from the sky. Nym sprinted inside the building to take cover from the artillery barrage. He checked his weapon, which was loaded and hungry for battle, then readied himself for the fight. Nymerio was prepared for action, and he would do all in his power to ensure he made it back to Regina safely. Secondary objective, make the Fallen pay for every inch.

* * *

 **AUTHORS NOTE: I have a lot more done, but trying to pace the release of chapters just in case I get behind on writing. Next chapter should be a treat and I am really excited about that and I hope you all will be too.**

 **Krimzonguard: I hear you, the choice to use the chnk as a speech mechanic for Ghost speech is taken directly from grimoire cards (i.e. Hand of Crota grimoire card). I will make some changes to add diversity in how Ghost talk tho, Thank you for your input.**


	4. Act I: Chpt 4 - The Betrayer

Chapter 4- The Betrayer

Ayyanna - Awoken Hunter: Bladedancer

Ayyana's eyes shot open once as her ghost brought her back from the dead once again. This time a fallen walker hit her with a lucky shot and killed her. She would kill that bastard eventually, but first she had to re-unite with the rest of her fireteam. Feeling in her limbs returned to her as the resurrection animation ended, _five seconds of immunity time to bug out_. She turned around and sprinted to the fighting positions set up by the Order of the Chain.

"GUARDIAN INCOMING!" She screamed before the heavy machine gunners ripped her to shreds, she died once like that already, it was NOT pleasant to say the least. Ayyana leapt behind the void shield generators and landed behind her best friend and fireteam leader, Zavala. The Awoken Titan was apparently a member of the American Samoa's National Guard in real life, so it kinda made sense that he was such a massive man. He stood at 6 foot 5 inches, weighed in at 250lbs was built from solid lean muscle, this man was born to be a Titan. His military experience, along with the in game knowledge of Saladin and Shaxx had solidified the position of Titans as the City's defenders. But when Zavala wanted to go on an adventure he always would party up with his best friend Ayanna the Huntress. The two had met early on in the game through an interesting encounter that ended up with several dead reaver captains and a blossoming new friendship. If it wasn't for Zavala and her boyfriend, Ayanna wouldn't have been where she was today. But her newfound sense of normalcy was shattered once the fallen attacked the City. Luckily for her, Zavala and his fireteam were close enough to help Ayyanna survive the initial onslaught.

editor note: for our metric friends that's 1.95m & 113kg

Since the combat began she had been a scout for the main defense for the City's forces. Herself, along with many other Hunters, had paired up with squads of titans and warlocks to slow down the Fallen advance to allow the defensive lines to be bolstered enough to form an effective defensive posture. What resulted was a very, very costly advance by the Fallen. For every neighborhood they took, thousands of Fallen would lay dead in the streets. For every Guardian whose light fell dim, a thousand fallen had paid the price for challenging the defenses of the City. But even with that ratio, the City's defenders could not slow the Fallen troops.

"Welcome back Ayya," Zavala said, the stresses of combat and leadership wearing down on the Titan, "What took you so long."  
"Had to rez, a Devil Walker got a lucky hit on me," Ayyanna replied as nonchalantly as someone can be when mentioning their death.  
"Don't get careless out there. I don't wanna see how angry your boyfriend will be if you were to die," Zavala said as he readied his MG.  
"Yeah, I'd honestly feel sorry for the Fallen. He already has an anger problem," Ayya thought of him going on a hell bent rage over her dying made her smile, she liked his protective side.

Before the conversation could continue the next wave of Fallen infantry came leaping down the City streets. The defense against the fallen had become fairly easy to understand, but far more difficult to resist. The first wave consisted of a large amount of shanks and dregs led by vandals as a way to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of the defensive line, a probing attack. The second wave's intent was to use the appropriate amount of force necessary to break the lines, in order to get the job done but also save some of the Fallen's strength for later. If the second wave failed than a bit more force was used in the next wave of enemies. This method was fairly pragmatic and would usually be effective, but the City's defenders had made a sweet science of tearing the Fallen apart. The first wave would be repelled with small-arms fire only, giving the Fallen a false interpretation of the defense they would come up against. Some of the more experienced City Guardians wouldn't even fire they knew how many Fallen there were. It was better to conserve ammo and give a false illusion of the number of defenders. When the fallen would step up their offense, the Guardians would reply with just enough force necessary to repel the defense. As unorthodox as the sudden attack was the Fallen were still reluctant to change their tactics throughout the battle. What this resulted in was a massive amount of casualties for the Fallen while preserving the Guardians fighting strength for as long as possible.

Such combat was not the typical hit and run tactics used by Guardians out in the wasteland. It was dirty and violent and cruel, brutal, and in your face. As usual the first wave of fallen were repelled with relative ease. A low leveled titan rolled into the piece of cover that Ayyanna was huddled behind. This kid looked at Ayyanna and was about to say something when a beam of arc light pierced his skull, shaking ever so slightly before his body collapsed lifeless and cold. Before Ayyanna could react a hail of Fallen weaponry unloaded on the Guardians gave the Titan's ghost some light to help with the resurrection then, she scurried into a nearby building to protect herself, eventually ending up besides Zavala.

"What in the actual fuck! They never counterattack this fast!" Ayanna yelled over the sound of rifle fire.  
"They are changing tactics to address the way we usually defend," Zavala sighed then said, "Radio notify teams 3, 7, and 9 to get some elevation and prepare to drop." Ayyanna sat patiently as she watched Zavala re-organize the defense to take advantage of the Fallen's aggression. Zavala's ghost, Radio, kept the Titan updated on relative information as he came up with strategies.

"Ayya, you and I are going to find where the Fallen's line ends. If we can figure out where the line stops we can start to maneuver into a better position," Zavala said as he finished up a message in his UI.

"Great idea big Z, but a couple hundred Fallen have a different idea," Ayyanna said to her Awoken friend.

"We will be getting covering fire from another fireteam, get ready to move on my mark," Zavala said as he readied himself for combat. Ayyanna began to check through her weaponry as well, her custom hand-cannon was loaded and ready as well as the new fusion rifle she recently found out on patrol. Zavala loaded his pulse rifle and moved towards the window that Ayyanna had jumped through. The sound of weapon fire was a symphony of madness that covered the battlefield. The barks of the Fallen as they pushed against the Guardians was a sight to behold. Ayyanna and Zavala added their own weapon fire to the chorus of destruction that amounted to the front lines. The lines of the fallen drew closer and closer to the building that Zavala and Ayyanna fought in. Ayyanna carefully choose targets to ensure that her weapon fire went to good use. The shock rifles of the fallen began to focus on the two Guardians.

It was then that Ayyanna hear a voice from inside her helmet, "Keep your heads down you two, your escort is here." Following the instructions Ayya and Zavala ducked down just as several rockets tore the charging Fallen apart. As Ayya looked up to see the destruction two Guardians stood amidst the destruction, arms moving around very animated as if they were in an argument.

"You jumped the gun Osiris! That engram is mine!," The titan bellowed as he tried to grab the Warlock.

"Nah mate, first come first serve. Should've been more proactive my man," The Warlock replied, whose name was apparently Osiris.

"Are you two part of our fireteam escort?," Zavala said catching the attention of the bickering Guardians.

"Holy shite you is a big mother-lover aintcha," Osiris mumbled in awe of Zavalas towering size before his Titan friend cut him off.

"Yes. Yes we are. My name is Saint-14. Exo, Titan, Defender, and general lover of ladies at your service," The Titan said with a flourish of his hand. He stood in heavy plate armor that was unique to Defenders, his helmet had a single purple plume of feathers crested vertically down the middle, similar to the armor of a roman legionary. From behind his monochrome helm Ayyanna could feel the Defender looking at her.

"Dude, stop being a weirdo," The Warlock said as he pushed aside his friend, "Sorry m'lady. I'm pretty sure my brother here, Saint-14, is a virgin so he dunno how to act 'round a woman. M'names Osiris, as you already know." With a bow of his head Osiris acknowledged Ayya.

"If we are done fawning over my comrade where is the third person of your fireteam," Zavala said, stopping the two Guardians from continuing.

"Oh we have a Hunter with us, he will be providing sniper fire from above us while we move," Osiris said.

"Let's link up on comms," Saint-14 said to Zavala and Ayya. Automatically the Ghost of the Guardians linked up, showing the status of all members of the party in Ayyanna's HUD. The names of Saint-14, Osiris, Zavala and the sniper named Dredgen Yor all appeared.

A foreign voice, which Ayya surmised was the Hunter Dredgen Yor spoke up and said, "Not to interrupt but the Fallen are done licking their wounds. So you might wanna move those asses,"

"Attention all channels, Attention all channels the ball is rolling, I repeat the ball is rolling." Zavala said to his Ghost, notifying all Guardians in the area that the decisive operation was now commencing. Zavala shot off in a sprint, quickly followed by the rest of the Fireteam. Taking a route that was already mapped on their HUD, the Guardians ran through the ranks of the Fallen, using surprise and violence of action to penetrate their lines. The ground crew consisting of Osiris, Saint-14, Ayya, and Zavala maintained forward momentum with Zavala as the point man. The Awoken Titan let his arc energy form a barrier around him, letting him be a juggernaut of power that put fear in the Fallen. He moved like an unstoppable fount of power, imagine a concrete wall moving with the speed of a cheetah, making the movement easier for the rest of the ground team. Osiris wielded a shotgun, tearing through whatever enemy that approached the left flank of the ground teams advance. It became evident that Osiris drew his power from the storm, channeling his power into a hail of arc grenades that disrupted any attempt to advance on the ground teams flank. His lightning danced around his golden armor, giving his movements a hint of majesty as well as destructive power. Saint-14 fought brutally, yet equally as efficient as his Warlock ally. He would grab and throw the Fallen into each other, dismembering them with well placed rounds from his auto-rifle. He dodged and countered with the efficiency of a well oiled machine. While his tactics were not as elegant as Osiris, there was a certain confidence in knowing that no enemies seemed to pass his side of the advance.

The entire time Ayyanna did not need to fire a single round or kill one enemy. Even if an enemy got close to her, Dredgen Yor would eliminate it with a single round. _"So this must be what it's like to be carried."_ Ayyana thought to herself. The amount of enemies they ran into began to dwindle, and Ayya could feel their destination was close. As the ground team rounded a corner they noticed a slight distortion in the air above them.

"I think I found a Ketch fellas," Dredgen Yor said from atop his perch on a building adjacent to the ground team.

"I think this is their far flank boss man, how we going to take it down?" Saint-14 said as he reloaded his rifle.

"We need a way into that ketch," Zavala mused.

"I have an idea, but I don't have time to run it by you guys," Yor said.

Before anyone could react the sight of a Skiff de-cloaking in between the buildings the ground team stood between. Before a single round was fired the cloaked figure of Dredgen Yor leaped off a skyscraper that he had been sniping from. The distinctive sound of a bladedancer was heard over the comms before he crashed through a window of the skiff. The Skiff shook violently with combat and crashed into the side of a building. Within a minute the violent shaking of the Skiff silenced and a moment later retook to the skies and aimed its turrets at Ayyanna's new crew. As the cannons started charging Zavala said, "I think your hunter just bit it."

"Nah" said Saint-14 confidently, "just wait." Saint didn't even attempt to drop a Ward of Dawn, the turrets then turned to the Ketch and let loose a deluge of arc rounds into the starboard side of the ship causing a massive billow of smoke to rise into the sky as the ship lurched to the ground. Ayyanna heard Yor over the comms say "...And THAT is how you take down a ketch my brainy warlock friend. Told'ya I had a plan to get us on there"

"Fuckin A, he is NEVER going to let me live that down," Osiris mumbled.

"Us." Saint-14 corrected, " he is never going to let US live that down, brother."

"Let's go take out a Ketch boys," Ayya said excitedly.

The Guardians swiftly boarded the commandeered Skiff. Ayyanna and Zavala laid their eyes on Dredgen Yor as he sat in the cockpit with an air of complete confidence. Yor seemed to be smirking beneath his helm, but Ayya would never be sure if he was for she couldn't see his face.

"Take us aboard that Ketch Yor. It is time to push these fuckers back," Zavala said.

"Roger that big man," The hunter said as he piloted the Skiff towards the ketch's hangar area.

Obviously the idea of Guardians hijacking a skiff never occurred to the diminutive AI of the Fallen, so the plethora of dregs and vandals in the hangar were unpleasantly surprised when a skiff began to open fire on them. With the skiff providing covering fire Ayyanna, Saint-14, Osiris, and Zavala leapt into the bay and started to clear the area. It took less than a minute for the four guardians to clear the area.

"Here is the plan. We have never been aboard a Fallen Ketch so we have two objectives. Gather as much intel as possible on the layout of this ship just in case we need to do this again. And commandeer this ship by eliminating the entire crew. Myself and Ayyanna will head to the upper levels, hopefully the bridge will be in our path and we can take out the commander. Osiris and Saint, you two head downward and scout in that direction. If this is designed anything like a human vessel the vehicles and engine room would be down there. If it looks useful, scan it so the Vanguard can analyze it later. Questions?"

Rather mockingly Osiris conducted a mock salute and said "No sir Commander Zavala sir."

"Oh don't be a smart ass," Saint-14 said to his brother, " We will take care of it man. We will contact you after every level is clear. Sound good?"

"Sounds good to me," Zavala replied, "Yor, you keep the Hangar secure for our exfil."

"No problemo, I should let you guys get some glory time anyway," Dregen said confidently from his seat in the cockpit. of the captured Skiff.

"OK let's move Guardians," Zavala said.

Ayyanna and Zavala went to the upper platforms and began their sweep of the Ketch. Aside from crates of ether and a few teams of dregs and vandals, there was nothing of note aboard the ship. It was a simple process to eliminate the few enemies that manned the Fallen's ship. As they finished the first level of the Ketch Saint-14 contacted Zavala reporting relatively light resistance aboard the ship, which matched the status of what Ayyana and Zavala ran into as well. As the two Guardians began their sweep of the next floor Ayyanna began to notice that the enemies they killed wore cloaks of both red and gold.

"Zavala, aren't these Ketch's supposed to be controlled by only one House at a time?" Ayyanna asked.

"I guess, why do you ask," Zavala replied.

"Well these guys are wearing two different colors, seems odd is all I'm sayin," Ayyanna noted.

"We can't worry about that now, focus on the mission. Let's get moving." Zavala stated.

As the two Guardians advanced Ayyanna began to notice the signs of a firefight. The walls and floors seemed scared by weapon fire and the shock blades of the various vandals were cracked and broken. Ether caked the ground as Zavala and Ayyanna proceeded through the Ketch's halls. They reached a control room filled with corpses of Fallen, their bodies tattered and burned from combat. Ayyanna looked at Zavala to gauge his response to what they saw. Zavala stood in silence, his weapon remained at the ready to engage any hostiles that would emerge. As the two stood in the room the silence of the ship really began to sit in. Since they had reached this floor there was no other sound but the ambiance of the Ketch. As a light hum permeated the silence of the Ketch Ayya decided to delve deeper into the ship. She kept her footsteps light as she moved forward, and Zavala decided to follow her lead. The two stalked the silence and maneuvered through the dead bodies of the Fallen. In time they reached the other side of the control room, and Ayyanna's feeling of suspense remained. A large stairwell draped in the gold banners of the House of Kings hung torn and scarred, like someone had taken a shock blade and cut down the middle. At the top of the stairs doors opened to reveal the husk of a massive Servitor laying on the ground. The body of the Archon Priest of the House of Kings was impaled above the throne that sat in the back of the room. In the throne sat a massive Captain that bore no cloak that Ayyanna could notice. In his claws he held a large cannon that burned with solar energy, a massive blade that crackled with arc power, and the torn cloak of the House of Devils.

The Captain rose to its full height, slightly smaller than the dead Archon Priest that hung dead above the cloakless figure. The Captain locked eyes with the Guardians with black empty eyes. It began to speak in the garbled language of the fallen pacing back and forth without showing signs of aggressions. The captain pointed towards the dead Archon and raised its voice in rage. It continued to look at the Guardians, as if it was waiting for some sort of response.

"What the hell is this," Ayya said as she readied her fusion rifle.

"I think we just ran into a boss fight," Zavala said.

With that a health bar and name appeared over the head of the massive Captain, **Taniks: The Betrayer**. With a mighty leap Taniks jumped towards the remains of the Servitor and ripped out its core. He cracked it open and drank the Ether that oozed from the core. An aura of vermillion covered Taniks as he charged the cannon over his shoulder. Ayyana did not wait for Zavala's command to move, strafing to her left and firing at the boss. Her rounds did nothing to Taniks, only drawing his attention towards her. The boss fired his cannon at Ayyanna forcing her to take cover. She could feel the heat from his weapon scorch the piece of cover she found herself behind. Ayya glimpsed Zavala move to the right while Taniks continued firing at Ayyanna. Zavala leapt into the ruins of the Servitor and emerged covered in the machine's ether. He then began firing his weapon, which was now able to truly harm Taniks.

"Ayya! Use the downed servitor to get a buff. It will help you damage this thing," Zavala shouted as he switched to his heavy machine gun and unloaded heavy rounds into Taniks. The Betrayer realed from the damage but quickly blinked away and into cover. Now Taniks was focused on Zavala, which gave Ayya the opening she needed to get to the servitor. She sprinted across the room and into the Servitor, but there once she was inside she did not receive any buff, unlike Zavala.

"I am not getting a buff Zavala!" She shouted as a stray heat round exploded over her Zavala could respond Osiris came in over comms, "Hey you two, just reached a room with a lot of Servitors in sleep mode."

"And there's this glowing lil doohickey out in the middle," Saint-14 said as well.

Between dodges of the scorch cannon Zavala said, "We have a boss up here, can't talk right now."

Ayya remained crouched in the husk of the dead Servitor when she noticed a glowing platform in the ceiling. It was then that she had an idea, "Someone toss a grenade at that glowing thing on your end," She suggested. Suddenly a blue orb flew out of the glowing circle, and exploded in a storm of arc energy, _it's a warp-pad._ She realized.

"I don't know what I just did," Osiris stammered, "But, these servitors are beginning to wake up."

It was then that Ayyanna began to put things together. This boss bathed in ether, making him invincible, and the only way to effect him is to get the same ether coating from a dead Servitor. In the bottom floor was a horde of sleeping Servitors along with a warpad. If the duo in the bottom section could send a Servitor threw that warp-pad, Ayya could destroy it and get the buff. By doing this she believed that they could defeat the boss.

Ayyana quickly described her plan, and the party quickly decided to follow through with the huntresses idea. It took some time but the first Servitor materialized above Ayya, which caught the attention of Taniks. Forgetting about Zavala the Fallen moved to destroy the Servitor as well, but he lunged and pulled his feet out from under him giving Ayya and opportunity to destroy her Servitor. With several precision hits she destroyed the servitor and received a buff called _Synthetic Light_. She switched to her fusion rifle and began to fire shots at Taniks who realed violently from the concussive beams of energy hitting him. The boss pushed Zavala off of him and scampered into cover, firing a few rounds at Ayyanna to force her to stop. Seeing the timer on her buff wearing down Ayya sprinted towards the cover of Taniks. She leapt over the obstacle with a summersault and fired another charged shot at Taniks. He swung his cannon to hit her but the huntress deftly maneuvered out of the way before landing. She rolled an arcbolt grenade between the boss legs as he raised an foot to crush her. The energy of her grenade staggered him, allowing Ayya to reload her weapon and get some distance from the boss. 10 seconds was left on her timer, so Ayyanna switched to her rocket launcher, and released a salvo of rockets that continued to stagger Taniks the Betrayer.

"Another Servitor coming through," Saint-14 announced.

"Keep him distracted!" Zavala told Ayya.

"Working on it already," She replied as Taniks rose once again for combat. The sound of a servitor drew his attention, but Ayya would not let him get in Zavala's way. She switched to her Hand Cannon and leapt atop the back of Taniks. She unloaded rounds into his skull, while no longer damaging they were most definitely frustrating. The giant Captain grabbed the Huntress and threw her into a wall, causing her shields to go out. Before she could react she felt the heat of the scorch round hit her, evaporating her immediately. From the perspective of her Ghost she saw Taniks move towards the small machine, which was trying to hover away to respawn her. Taniks teleported to her Ghost and grabbed it and began to drain it of power. Her Light points plummeted quickly, reaching halfway in seconds. She could do and say nothing to defend herself from this fate, but Zavala shoulder charged and broke Taniks grip on her Ghost. With a flick of his wrist Ayyanna was reconstituted, albeit a bit shaken from her brush with permanent death.

"Sooo this guy can drain your light as well, just so you know," She muttered whilst keeping her obvious fear in check.

"Duly noted," Zavala succinctly stated. The Titan charged, not wishing to waste time on his buff, unleashing havoc with both weapon and fist. Zavala moved with a criminal efficiency, making Taniks seem like a sluggish ametuer in comparison. The captain made for a mad swing with his fist but it was caught easily before Zavala hip tossed the giant captain over him and pinned him to the ground. The Striker switched to his heavy machinegun and ripped an entire drum of rounds into the skull of Taniks as he lay on the ground. Just as his buff wore off the boss grabbed Zavala with one of his arms and flung him into a wall, attempting to do to Ayyanna what it had recently did. Zavala used his lift jump to slow himself to where he landed with his feet on the wall. Taniks blinked to continue his onslaught but was met with a buttstroke from hell that knocked the overeager boss for a loop. While not directly damaging Taniks, he was surprised by the counterattack. Two more Servitors appeared above Ayyana this time.

"There are a lot of Servitors in this room now, I hope you two can speed this up," Osiris yelled, with the sound of Servitors in the background.

"Understood," Ayya stated as she moved to destroy both Servitors. Before she could reach either one Taniks blinked towards one and punched through the entire machine. He gripped his scorch cannon like a mace and smashed it against the second one. The boss stood to his full height and dropped its weapon. The vermillion hue around Taniks faded as the boss prepared itself for the two Guardians to attack. It lowered its stance and drew two shock swords before taunting the Guardians to attack. Ayya strafed to her right, firing rounds from her hand cannon that Taniks deflected with ease. Zavala fired his pulse rifle, but Taniks danced around the battleground avoiding all weapons fire. Zavala nodded towards Ayya then charged at the boss. Ayya took those precious seconds to switch to a sniper rifle, equipping a high impact type to hopefully stagger Taniks. When she exited her item screen she saw Zavala dodging sword strikes from Taniks. The boss was pushing Zavala back towards the downed Servitor, but Zavala did not seem distressed by this. Either that or…

"Zavala stop falling back!" Ayya shouted, but by saying that the Titan was distracted just enough to be kicked into the wreckage of the Servitor. Zavala rose up quickly enough, but Taniks blinked to his flank and grabbed the titan by the head. The boss threw Zavala through the warp-pad above the Servitor then tossed a grenade in the air, destroying the warp-pad. Taniks the Betrayer stared at Ayyana and flourished his swords, ready to swiftly dispatch the lone guardian.

Ayya used her speed to dodge the obvious strike that followed, firing a few rounds into the knees of Taniks before sprinting away to create distance. But Taniks was not so easily dissuaded, and the teleported once again to close the distance. _This boss is clever, he can use the terrain to his advantage,_ Ayya thought to herself, _just got to make this a contest of speed_. She continued to dodge the aggressive strikes of Taniks, occasionally cutting at the boss' outstretched arm with her hunting knife to keep the fallen captain wary. One particularly fierce strike gave Ayya the opportunity to jump over Taniks, kicking off his head to get to the other side of the room. She stood with her weapon at the ready and her knife drawn, ready to continue the fight. She began to feel storm inside herself stir, announcing that she could bladedance at any moment. But Taniks still had around 25% of his health left, and Ayya was not confident that she could finish the fight in time.

"Ayya listen to me," Osiris stated, using the shortened version of her name, "Even from here I can tell that you are able to summon your light to fight why haven't you."

"I don't know if I can finish this before my power runs out," She replied bluntly.

"Then don't let it," Osiris said to her.

"Oh and how would I manage that oh great and powerful Warlock," She replied sarcastically.

"I am a Stormcaller, obviously I know. As everyone knows Warlocks of my order spend a lot of time meditating on the nature of power. In my time meditating I have come to an understanding with the nature of the power of Arc." Osiris said in his scholarly voice, " _Where is the source of Arc energy_ I was asked. And I spend many weeks meditating this very fact. When using the power of the storm it draws on the ambient energy around us. But where does this energy come from? That energy that permeates our entire world." As Osiris spoke Ayya could feel her energy churn deep within her. "You see, _oh hunter of mine_ , that the very energy we use we draw from in the physical world, Thus the storm is both the question and the answer. You do not summon the storm, the storm is always there. Let it run through you. You are not the user of the storm, you are merely its conduit. Calm your heart, open yourself to the power of Arc-light, and embody the storm's power."

Ayya slowed her breathing, and opened her mind and body, allowing her inner power to synchronize with the ambient Arc energy around her. It hurt at first but Ayya welcomed the pain. She felt the air around her crack with power, and the flow of energy that was both inside and out was her's to focus towards the foe that stood before her. Taniks charged with his blades crossed, blinking towards the lone huntress. Ayya could see Taniks path before he moved, for he used the very power that Ayyanna embodied. She too became lightning, intercepting Taniks mid blink and kicking the creature across the room, 13% left. Taniks recovered, being shaken by Ayyana's attack. This time he leapt at her, but she raised her blade and blocked his attack with ease. Taniks swiped with his second sword, but Ayyanna grabbed the weapon and crushed it into dust. Taniks stepped back in fear, beginning to realize just how outclassed he was. Taniks turned to flee but Ayyana leapt with blinding speed, cutting off two of the boss' arms in the process, 5% left.

"It is time to end this," she said, walking calmly towards the cowering Captain. But Taniks flicked a stasis tag in fear at Ayya just before she could kill the boss. Not worrying about fighting any longer the Fallen ultra pressed a button on his belt and disappeared via transmat. The power that flowed through Ayyana briefly intensified, breaking the power of Taniks' stasis tag. And just as quickly as it started the power of the storm left Ayya. A notification popped up in her ability menu that she opened up and examined.

 _ **UNIQUE SKILL UNLOCKED: BLADETRANCE**_

 _ **Enter an extended trance like state to finish the fight.**_

Ayyanna smirked before contacting the rest of her fireteam. They still had a job to do.


End file.
